Whim

Hiatus to Harrisville (N.H.) - couple'a days...

GONE FISHIN'

American Profile: Harrisville, NH

“Living here slows life down"

(That's the idea)

"Clean, friendly, and best of all, close to nature.”

("Nature and I are two," said Woody Allen once.)

"We all help raise our children, who can pretty much have the run of the place safely—as long as we teach them to swim,” he says, referring to the town’s nine ponds and sometimes-swift river."

(We'll be in a canoe on (in?) the pond)

"Over at the general store, business is brisk again after a seven-year hiatus."

(there's that word, again)

"...homemade soups, baked goods, and deli items scent the air. A café up front is a gathering place..."

(one place in town. nice.)

See you next Thursday! (Sept. 4)
Wm.

SSI 'XBitHack on' (WAS) messing up my CGI

Well, this is FIXED now, but I thought I'd document the hassle
(while I'm still just chortling away at how much fun it's been)
===========================
Draft (not sent) post to "Tech Help!" at my hosting svc. (hub.org)

Dear Sirs,

I'm having success at getting two things to work (good), BUT I am not having success at getting them both to work at the same time (not so good).

These be SSI and CGI.

Gory annotation notes in my Apache configuration file...

/usr/local/etc/apache/virtual_host/www.reilly2001.info.conf
<VirtualHost>
# WR_ 20030828. As noted at TOP of httpd.conf file...
# Adding SSI to root (home) dir.
# RH7.3 Bible, p. 805 etc.
# (The intent is _not_ to have SSI on all sub-directories!) (Here's hoping!)
# This is so Movable Type 'recent.html' can be SSI'-ed into 'index.html'

## WR_ 20030829 SUMMARY
# O.K., I had trouble trying to get SSI to work, without
# it also taking down my CGI (!).
# That is, for SSI, I had 'Options Includes' for
# the home (web root) dir, and then (to avoid the
# dreaded ".shtml" way) I set 'XBitHack' to 'on'.
# O.K., SSI kicked in (on the single page I needed: /index.html)
# but my Movable Type CGI complained:
# "Forbidden, you don't have permission to access..."
# (All CGI, actually. /cgi-bin/wiki/wiki.cgi did the same)
# I Googled a bit to see about 'XBitHack' affecting CGI, "Forbidden" etc.
# Best I found were these, but they still didn't address my need.
# http://httpd.apache.org/docs/howto/ssi.html.html#configuringyourservertoperm\
itssi
# http://www.apacheweek.com/features/ssi
# Then, the Apache FAQ has:
# http://www.surreyinstitute.org.uk/manual/misc/FAQ.html#forbidden
# which can only offer the general help of:
# "The Apache configuration has some access restrictions in place which forbid\ access to the files"
# Still, I realized it was prob. going to be this sort of .htaccess thing.
# So, I followed some ideas I'd seen in Apache books at the QuantumBooks store\ today...
# 1. Working only on my <Virtual_Host> file (rather than httpd.conf) was a goo\d idea... (I'd sorta figured that out...)
# 2. Understanding that yes, these <Directory> directives were for all sub-dir\s was important (!)
# 3. So putting a more exclusive <Files> directive, within the broader
# <Directory> directive seemed a good idea.
# 4. Finally, some mucking about with trying XBitHack on, then commented out, \then back on again, finally led me to getting it all to work.
# Hallelujah.
<Directory "/usr/local/www/reilly2001.info/www">
<Files "index.html">
Options Includes
</Files>
</Directory>
XBitHack on
</VirtualHost>

"Is Knowing XML Worth Anything Anymore?"

XML.com: Nobody Asked Me, But... [Aug. 27, 2003]

This article rings true, as I'm busy (re-)sizing up which piece(s) of the grand world of XML are for me (these days).

I've long now said (two years, maybe?), XML is like ASCII. Saying, "we do XML" is like saying, "our product does ASCII." Yes, of course it does; nobody asks that anymore! The question is _what_ are you doing with XML? (and the legitimate replies can be myriad; hence the "grand world...")

Wm.

by John Simpson

"A few years ago, I crammed my head with everything XML-related that I could find; it all used to fit -- if not in my head, at least between the covers of a 300- or 400-page book."

"At work nobody knew anything about XML, and non-XML project priorities couldn't wait." [...so I was a leading XML generalist...!]

"It's true that there are people -- many if not all of them participants on the XML-DEV list -- who are apparently profoundly smart about nearly everything going on in the XML world; many of them grew up with and are still fond of SGML, Smalltalk, Lisp, and awk, yet are equally at home discussing Java, XML Schema, Unicode, web services, Perl, the Campaign for Real Ale, and the handling characteristics of the Segway. Face it, though: you are not one of those people" (emphasis added)

"There's just too much going on, and it's going on in too many places at once, for you to get it all."

"Select a specialty. Go deep instead of broad."

MT Error: (FIXED) "Use of uninitialized value" MTEntryLink?

NOW FIXED. (See Comment)
============================
Hmmm. I added a simple edit, per the O'Reilly Blogging book, to get a "...posted in category..." listing for each entry.
The site got built, and the new category info is there, but I did get an error (repeated 9 times):

Is it the $MTEntryLink, perhaps?
(Note: At time this occurred, every entry did have a Category - all 18.)

-----------------------
All of your files have been rebuilt. View your site.

MT::App::CMS=HASH(0x82bdbc0) Use of uninitialized value at /usr/local/www/reilly2001.info/www/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/lib/MT/Template/Context.pm line 928.
----------------------

==== (9 times, on 18 entries. Hmmmmm....) ==========================
MT::App::CMS=HASH(0x82bdbc0) Use of uninitialized value at /usr/local/www/reilly2001.info/www/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/lib/MT/Template/Context.pm line 928.
MT::App::CMS=HASH(0x82bdbc0) Use of uninitialized value at /usr/local/www/reilly2001.info/www/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/lib/MT/Template/Context.pm line 928.
MT::App::CMS=HASH(0x82bdbc0) Use of uninitialized value at /usr/local/www/reilly2001.info/www/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/lib/MT/Template/Context.pm line 928.
MT::App::CMS=HASH(0x82bdbc0) Use of uninitialized value at /usr/local/www/reilly2001.info/www/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/lib/MT/Template/Context.pm line 928.
MT::App::CMS=HASH(0x82bdbc0) Use of uninitialized value at /usr/local/www/reilly2001.info/www/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/lib/MT/Template/Context.pm line 928.
MT::App::CMS=HASH(0x82bdbc0) Use of uninitialized value at /usr/local/www/reilly2001.info/www/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/lib/MT/Template/Context.pm line 928.
MT::App::CMS=HASH(0x82bdbc0) Use of uninitialized value at /usr/local/www/reilly2001.info/www/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/lib/MT/Template/Context.pm line 928.
MT::App::CMS=HASH(0x82bdbc0) Use of uninitialized value at /usr/local/www/reilly2001.info/www/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/lib/MT/Template/Context.pm line 928.
MT::App::CMS=HASH(0x82bdbc0) Use of uninitialized value at /usr/local/www/reilly2001.info/www/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/lib/MT/Template/Context.pm line 928.
==============================

Perl
=============================================
/usr/local/www/reilly2001.info/www/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/lib/MT/Template/Context.pm
sub _hdlr_entry_link {
my $args = $_[1];
my $e = $_[0]->stash('entry')
or return $_[0]->_no_entry_error('MTEntryLink');
my $arch = $_[0]->stash('blog')->archive_url;
$arch .= '/' unless $arch =~ m!/$!;
$arch . $e->archive_file($args ? $args->{archive_type} : ()); = Line 928
}
=============================================

Template Edit (from O'Reilly Blogging book)
=============================================
Just added this:
in category: <a href="<$MTEntryLink archive_type="category"$>"><$MTEntryCategory$></a>

ORIG
<div class="posted">Posted by <$MTEntryAuthor$> at <a href="<$MTEntryPermalink$>"><$MTEntryDate format="%X"$></a>

NEW
<div class="posted">Posted by <$MTEntryAuthor$> in category: <a href="<$MTEntryLink archive_type="category"$>"><$MTEntryCategory$></a> at <a href="<$MTEntryPermalink$>"><$MTEntryDate format="%X"$></a>
=============================================

Blocklist Blocks Self (and all of us!)

My e-mail to cms-list participant and "listmom"
========================================
Subj: Flakey Internet... Boston Globe article today on "blocklists"

Hi Chris (and greetings to listmom, whom I'd also written about this),

Thanks for your note back.

On Wednesday 27 August 2003 07:39 pm, Chris Harrington wrote:
> Yes, I got both of your emails. The Internet has been overall pretty
> flakey the past week.

This error message is what I got yesterday, trying to post to the list, and I noticed then the domain "osirusoft.com".

=== Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender ===================
<cms-list@cms-list.org%gt;: host ashiya.cms-list.org[64.81.246.22] said: 554
Service unavailable; [64.117.224.150] blocked using
dialups.relays.osirusoft.com (in reply to RCPT TO command)
=================================================

Then at my morning breakfast table, the Boston Globe spilled the beans on what'd happened (!). (Is this what they mean by "convergence"? ;^0) )

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/08/28/saboteurs_hit_spams_blockers/

=== Osirusoft.com excerpt ===============================
"The attackers have managed to drive one popular blocklist entirely offline. On Tuesday, Californian Joe Jared shut down his Osirusoft blocklist in an unexpected manner. Jared blocklisted all Internet addresses worldwide. As a result, businesses that relied on his list were suddenly unable to receive any e-mail at all, even legitimate e-mail.

"He said . . . I'm going to blacklist the world. And by golly, he did," said Jim Miller, network administrator at Simutronics Corp., a St. Charles, Mo., firm that formerly used the Osirusoft blocklist.

Jared expressed regret for the way he shut down his blocklist. "I thought there had to be a better way to do it," Jared said. "But there wasn't."

Jared said his blocklist server also hosted the website for his small business, which makes shoe inserts for people with foot problems. He couldn't shut down the blocklist server without also closing his business website, so he chose to make the blocklist unusable by blocking everything.

He said he'd spent weeks trying to fend off the denial of service attacks against his servers, but "they just beat the hell out of them . . . I just can't be attacked like that."

Jared isn't sure he'll ever run a blocklist again. "What I am going to do is take a vacation," he said. "I need one.""
=== /Osirusoft.com excerpt ===============================

R21 - The Look

I forget which nation from the far side of the Pacific featured this fun logo, when I went Googling for "r21" pics (that's shorthand for "reilly2001," you see).

So my Java classes can be the shortened: info.r21.package.class ...
and my XML Namespaces can use <xmlns:r21 http://reilly2001.info/whathaveyou>
Oughta work O.K.; not too likely nameclashes, even though I don't own r21.info.

Wm.

william.reilly.name the 1st

Dear Hiawatha Bray (Boston Globe technology writer),

Subj: william@reilly.name -- What happens to the other William Reillys??

I today came upon the "firstname.lastname.name" phenomenon at http://norman.walsh.name (DocBook guru), and a Google-click or two later was at various ".name" registrars happy to tell me my name was still available (for $25 - 60...).

My question: sounds like a nice new appealing way to simplify web addresses, etc., but it is (obviously!) a land rush for the John Smiths (and William Reillys) of the world (maybe less so for Hiawathas! :^) )

> What, if anything, is/was the plan for how this would really play out??
ICANN or whomever runs this hasn't exactly made it clear what the 2nd (and 200th) William Reilly is supposed to do, to join this new world.
Are we just going to HotMail it? (William99.Reilly.name ?) I suppose so.

Anyway, I gave up trying to find a decent news article or opinion piece on this, because Google just leads me to the registrars, largely.

Do you have info on this? Interested in it as a story? Or maybe just a one-liner e-mail reply... (I know you are busy.)

THANK YOU for your time,
Best wishes,
William Reilly
william@reilly2001.info
-- as you can see, (back in 2001) I got an '.info' domain, still pretty unusual...

"Metadata Wins Again" (Norm Walsh)

Following some series of links from Simon St. Laurent's site (http://www.simonstl.com), I've been spending a few moments at Norm Walsh's new (to me) (ca. this spring, looks like?) "pseudo-blog" website, which is full of RDF and interesting ideas (par for the course for Norm "DocBook" Walsh).

This one I thought worth clipping:
"Metadata wins again"
http://norman.walsh.name/2003/08/21/metadata

"On more than one occasion, I've been saved by the fact that I can influence the publication through no more than the addition of metadata"

-- gives one example of being pleasantly surprised by auto-magically getting the lone .GIF on his site to be handled/processed by the metadata he thought he'd set up for .JPGs description only...

-- in another example "he [realizes that the] RSS feed, like everything else, just comes from the metadata!" and for the price of a quick snippet of RDF he gets the RSS listing he wants, without the onus of having to create a (real, non-metadata) placeholder article.

Concluding remark:
"This metadata stuff, it's got legs."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Wm.
P.S. "On the other hand..."
Then again I have to note Simon St. Laurent's just-the-other-day "rant" on "Why I Don't Like RDF"
http://simonstl.com/articles/RDF.html (Aug. 2003)
"URIs identify resources, which are sort of whatever you want or I want or whatever URI owners want if they can be bothered to communicate it. The understandings of the division of labor between server and browser regarding things like fragment identifiers have been tossed out in favor of nonsense about magic hashes (#) signalling a difference between representation and abstract ideas."

[re: XSLT as a help] "The XML world has frequently deluded itself into thinking that agreement-by-committee can solve its communications problems, but at the same time it has hedged its bets with transformation practices that let developers get from vocabulary A to vocabulary B just in case the big-picture designs [a la RDF] aren't quite what was needed."

"RDF has managed to inflict its assumptions on XML enough (largely through namespaces) that there are periodic efforts to convince XML users to put themselves in the RDF straitjacket. Rather than merely accepting the constraints of trees, these people suggest, developers would be wise to subject their content to the constraints of trees and graphs simultaneously"

He does link to his own (older) "What's right with RDF"
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/2322 (Nov. 2002)
but that has some qualified statements of interest, too.
"RDF is excellent at addressing a particular set of problems. The Resource Description Framework's primary approach is description. XML often presents something (a document, a table) directly; RDF more typically presents a description of something, not the thing itself"

FUTURE: draft mat'l. for JobSearch

This entry pairs with the "PAST" one.
Just draft material at this point.... work-in-progress, goes without saying!
Wm.

===============================================
1. FUTURE = How to describe what I want to do next.
===============================================
Three Areas:
A. XML/XSLT/DTD/XSD technologies, content management, "single-source"
publishing
(good deal of hands-on document and content analysis, DTD/XSD development,
XSLT processes design and implementation, etc.)

B. CMS (Content Management Systems) per se
Some of the "usual suspects" of various well-known CM Systems
- Interwoven;
- Content Server;
- Vignette;
etc. on which I've had varying degrees of experience...

C. Application Frameworks, J2EE applications, data-intensive website
development
(I know some Java, but am not a Java developer. But, I can contribute in
many other ways to these kinds of projects)

=======================
A. XML, PUBLISHING, etc.
Below, I've taken a look at the work of two other highly respected
people/groups in the field (of XML/XSLT/DTD/XSD technologies, content
management, "single-source" publishing, etc.), to provide some ideas and
examples:

1). New Media Publications, Bill Trippe
2). Mulberry Technologies, B. Tommie Usdin

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1). New Media Publications, "Recent Technology Projects"
http://www.nmpub.com/recent.htm
Bill Trippe projects,
-- re-sorted in order of interest/appeal to me --

Closer to Hands-On Deliverables
# Developing document type definitions (DTDs) for two divisions of a major
educational publisher, enabling them to drive print and Web production from a
single source.
# Implementing XML editing tools and an XSLT-based Web publishing tool for a
major publisher.
# Developing RFPs and soliciting proposals for tools to convert publishers'
databases to XML and other formats.

Special case (Web Services)
# Advising a large technical publisher on implementing Web Services technology
to integrate both new and legacy publishing and business systems.

More Strategy
# Developing requirements, functional specifications, and test plans for
authoring and publishing tools for a major journal publisher
# Advising a major publisher on next-generation electronic reference products
for the Web and CD-ROM.
# Developing a needs analysis and RFP detailing requirements for Web-based
collaboration and publishing tools for a major publishing organization.
# Developing a comprehensive strategy for the State of Washington to use XML
and other emerging standards in its newly planned Digital Archive.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2). B. Tommie Usdin (Mulberry Technologies)
http://www.mulberrytech.com/people/usdin/btu-quals.html

WR note: These are very high-end, very large organizations that this person
has worked with -- I don't entirely expect or desire projects of this scope,
but they do provide examples on the more complex end of the spectrum of what
I'd like to do.

- Developed the DTD for Oxford University Press' American National Biography
(ANB)
- Developed the Pinnacles Component Information Standard (PCIS) for the
semiconductor industry, an industry-wide SGML application for the interchange
of semiconductor documentation
- American Memory Project of the Library of Congress, Ms. Usdin led the
analysis team that selected the TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) as the basis
for their custom DTD
- Publisher of a major scientific encyclopedia, Ms. Usdin led the editorial
team in identification of the structure of the articles and index structures.
She then led the team that developed a set of DTDs for articles, indices, and
the full encyclopedia.
- Set of inter-related DTD modules for a government agency that produces a
variety of periodical publications, some daily, some weekly, and some
irregular

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3). William Reilly

First: Simple Problem Statement: "The Information Problem"
(then: "What I Can Add" (below))
- 1. Organizations seek to optimize the use of resources. (of course)
- 2. Information holds the potential for delivering high value to
organizations (right information/right person/right time).
- 3. But, finding (& storing/managing) information effectively requires a
good-sized investment.
- 4. Therefore, organizations find it challenging to make optimal use of
resources to best organize information for storage and use, to derive that
high potential value.

What I Can Add:
I believe I can make the most effective contribution to organization(s) facing
this "Information Problem" where:
- I can use my skills in data/information/content/document analysis,
modelling, design, transformation.
- I can draw on my experience in assembling systems for processing
(acquisition; management; publishing).
- I can play a key role in project scoping, planning, staffing, budgeting.
- I can be relied upon to ensure the team has a sound understanding of what
the client's business problem is, what the client wants from the system.
- I can assume a lead role of responsibility and accountability for project
management and final deliverables.

I believe I can also contribute to higher level strategic planning, industry
review, and product evaluation efforts, etc. But my first preference is
(currently!) more project deliverables oriented.

====================
B. CMS
In addition to perhaps the "usual suspects" of various well-known CM Systems
- Interwoven;
- Content Server;
- Vignette;
etc. on which I've had varying degrees of experience)...

====================
C. FRAMEWORKS, etc.
Some Particular Architectures, Frameworks:
...these kinds of server-side J2EE applications are of keen interest to me:
- Apache Cocoon/Lenya http://cocoon.apache.org/lenya
- Orbeon, Inc. XFO XML Framework (U.C. Berkeley project)
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=053828
- WebML (www.webml.org; www.webratio.com)
- D-Space (M.I.T., Hewlett-Packard) http://www.dspace.org/
- Struts (MVC) http://jakarta.apache.org/struts/index.html
- JSTL (JSP Standard Tag Library) http://java.sun.com/products/jsp/jstl/

PAST: draft mat'l. for JobSearch

This entry pairs with "FUTURE"...
work-in-progress (towards a resume)

===============================================
2. PAST = How to describe what I was doing.
===============================================
- Organization
Digitas, LLC
"Marketing & Technology consulting firm"
1,200 people; Boston (main), NY, London, SF, Chicago
Fortune 100 AT&T; GM; FedEx; Xerox; Delta

- Title/Role
VP/Assoc. Dir., Technology

- How Long There
5 years

- Why Laid Off
"Excess capacity relative to client demand."
Technology group reduced by 15% (7 middle managers)
[Q1, Q2 2003 $3.5MM vs. $5.0MM in 2002]

- What Technologies I Learned/Used
XML, DTD, XSLT, DocBook, XSD, CSS, XHTML, RDF, XML Topic Maps
Content Mgt.: Interwoven; Content Server; Apache Cocoon
XML Spy & Stylesheet Designer; Emacs; eWebEditPro; Eclipse (XML Buddy);
XMetal; MS-Office
Unix/Linux, Perl, Ant, CVS, bash, Windows admin (some)
Java; J2EE; Object-oriented A/D

- What "Soft Skills" I Learned/Used
Project technical lead responsibilities
Client relations (w lead client technologist)
Project scoping, planning
MS-Project
MS-Visio (architecture documents)
Content analysis: documents, websites, fragments. "Information architecture"
Cooperative collaboration with Marketing, Creative, Content Specialists,
Usability, Measurement
Successfully persuaded "Creative/Usability/Copywriters/Information
Architects" of the need for Technology contribution to defining "upstream"
work products (wireframes; sitemap; comps; content gap analysis & plan;
naming conventions; functionality requirements capture; etc.)

- What I Did/Created (more developer "hands-on")

"XML-2-HTML" WEBSITE BUILD SYSTEM
- Conceived, designed, architected, implemented, and documented (DocBook)
open source website build system: "XML-2-HTML"
(a.k.a. "Trees Into Rectangles")
Directed internal team's use and trained client.
What "It" Is:
Single-click website (re-)build system (static HTML, with some client-side
functionality).
Edit your content in simple ("presentation-free") BusinessML XML.
Achieved separation of content from presentation; all content rendered
processable (via automation) for future purposes.
Designed to support "CMS-ready" level of granularity of content types.
XML, XHTML, DTD, XSLT, CSS, Java, Ant, CVS, Tomcat/Apache, Linux/Windows,
XML Spy. Utilized Open Market/divine "Content Server" CMS in part, with
eWebEditPro (WYSIWYG control).

NOTE: This product 'XslGen' is (~sort of) ~similar/akin to my XML-2-HTML:
http://www.syntext.com/products/index.htm#XslGen
http://www.syntext.com/products/xslgen/doc/index.html
"Combining XslGen with any version control system (like CVS) and "make"
utility you get a simple site content management system - almost for free!
This is ideal solution for small- to medium-size businesses which need easy
Web site content management but doesn't want to bother with complex and
expensive enterprise content management solutions."

E-MAIL SYSTEM
- Designed and implemented prototype WYSIWYG e-mail content management and
production system for multiple campaigns, multiple clients, variety of
personalization metadata, various output formats (HTML; "AOL"; TXT)
Outputs readied for various 3rd party e-mail vendor requirements:
DoubleClick; PostFuture; etc.
XML Spy, Authentic, Stylesheet Designer, Ant, XSLT, DTD, XSD, MS-Excel

BUG REPORTING SYSTEM
- Conceived, designed, developed and rolled out Bug Reporting system ("Page
Problem Report (PPR)) for use in website development.
Lotus Notes/Domino web-based
Popular, useful
Multiple projects, clients

- What I Did/Created (more managerial/analyst)
- Technology Lead responsibility, main client technology liaison, mgt. small
teams of web developers (4-8+) on website build projects (Millennium
Pharmaceuticals; Fleet Bank (3 portals); others (AT&T; Xerox; Harcourt))

- Technology internal liaison (to Creative, Marketing etc.). Project
scoping/estimating; planning; staffing/resourcing; project mgt.; quality
assurance procedures; deliverables definition, packaging

- Technology Consultant
Multiple business unit technology & content evaluation, recommendations to
senior management (Harcourt Publishers)
Senior-level technology client liaison during website development
(Xerox.com)
Technology Assessment reports
New Business proposals, RFPs, presentations
Online Library consulting (M.L.I.S. background)
Hosting services research and recommendations

- Software Development Manager
(I.B.M. Lotus Domino app. dev.(automated sitebuild Notes CM databases);
mgt. of team of 12; bug triage)

EDUCATION

- Education, Training Background
M.L.I.S. (U.C. Berkeley, 1987)
Masters in Library & Information Studies
Harvard Extension School: XML, Java, Perl (1999 - present)
Training (CMS: Interwoven; Content Server; Java (Sun) courses: Programmer;
Architect
B.A., English (College of the Holy Cross, 1981)
===============================================

Inquiry from '87 M.L.I.S., re: Document Engineering & OXF

An e-mail I sent to UC Berkeley School of Information Management and Systems (SIMS), where I earned a Master's degree in 1987.
Looking to meet with someone there while in San Francisco in a couple of weeks...
We'll see what (if anything) comes of it.
Wm.

==================================================
Inquiry from '87 M.L.I.S., re: Document Engineering & OXF
Date: Yesterday 02:16:04 pm
From: William Reilly [wreilly@alumni.sims.berkeley.edu] (reilly2001.info)
To: glushko@sims.berkeley.edu
BCC: Lorie Reilly [lorie.reilly@pearsoned.com], Bob Doyle [bobdoyle@skybuilders.com]
Reply to: wreilly@alumni.sims.berkeley.edu

Dear Professor Glushko,

I write you as a recently laid off Boston-based alumnus (M.L.I.S. 1987) who
will soon be paying a short visit to San Francisco, in the hopes that what I
propose below [re: an informal meeting] is something you might be willing to
assist in arranging.

Led by the appropriately prominent link on the SIMS homepage, I have now
looked over a good amount of the web pages on your Document Engineering
courses from the past year, and am quite intrigued - perhaps in particular by
the use of Orbeon's OXF (and the comparison with Cocoon, Struts, etc.).

My own work is closely involved in some aspects of this (XSLT pipelines
(chained by Ant); DTD/XSD; XML Spy; some Cocoon); and not so close in others
(more web publishing than web services; I can work in some Java/J2EE, but not
a real developer; have some WS/WSDL/SOAP knowledge, but not real practice).
[Note: I've pasted in my "UCB SIMS Alumni Profile" at the bottom of this
e-mail.]

I would appreciate the opportunity to meet and "compare notes" with someone
(or some couple of people) from your classes whom you think might be good
choices, and who might be willing and available, while I am in the Bay Area:
[ DATES = Monday Sept. 8 through Thursday Sept. 11 ]
[any evening, also, Monday afternoon available (prob. preferred?)]

I am in San Francisco to attend the Seybold Conference
http://www.seybold365.com/sf2003/conference/glance/
and the Gilbane Content Management (sub-)Conference
http://tinyurl.com/l8yz
[I am a (new) Contributing Writer to CMS Review:
http://www.cmsreview.com/Editors/ , and will be reporting on the conference.]

Many thanks for your time in reviewing this e-mail inquiry, and thanks in
advance if you feel there is the possibility of some kind of informal meeting
that might be arranged.

Best regards,
William Reilly, M.L.I.S. '87
william@reilly2001.info
(617) 290-9689 cell phone
Somerville, Massachusetts
====================
P.S. -- As I see you just taught a Summer Short Course, I'm guessing you will
see e-mail (not away on sabbatical, etc.), but I suppose if for some reason I
don't hear back from you before Sept. 3, I hope you will not mind if I employ
a small "broadcast" e-mail to the people I list below (some "Document
Engineering" students). (Though I'd much prefer to coordinate through you,
if possible! Thx.)

======================
Some Discussion Topic Ideas
======================
* Information Architecture vs. Programming? *
* Platform Technology Evaluation *
* Relationship (?) of Document Engineering to Content Management *
* Any Opportunity for Alumni Distance Learning/Contribution?? *
* Other?... *

--------------------
* Information Architecture vs. Programming? *
I went to SLIS (fewer computer requirements), not SIMS, and so I suppose one
essential question I would have concerns the extent to which the emphasis in
this design and implementation appear to be on information modelling and
information architecture, and there (appears to be?) a de-emphasis on the
need or call for Java coding/development, per se.

That is, the hard work to discover the COURSE and ROLE schemas, etc., that you
have prepared permits for a higher level contribution from a SIMS(/SLIS) kind
of graduate (as opposed to more strictly computer science/developer) to the
design and even implementation/deployment of such a system:
"[OXF permits] an ease that allows our students to find success with
building advanced systems in a far shorter period"..."quicker to market"
lesson, etc.
This seems to state it: http://dream.berkeley.edu/CDE/cas/website/
"...[we are] conducting model driven software development using XML Schema
as a basis. Our project demonstrates how Information Architecture, one of the
core competencies of a SIMS education, can be used to generate deployable
systems with a minimum of code customization."
And from Orbeon: http://www.orbeon.com/oxf/doc/intro-oxf
"we strongly believe that enterprise developers should not have to put up
with the intricacies of J2EE development."

On the other hand, the DE definition doesn't shy from including "distributed
computing," but it does make clear it's a multi-disciplinary undertaking.
http://cde.berkeley.edu/ "synthesis of information and systems
analysis, business process modeling, electronic publishing, and distributed
computing"

-------------
* Platform Technology Evaluation *
http://dream.sims.berkeley.edu/CDE/report/go-five-final-report.html#S5.4

The case for OXF looks good
http://dream.sims.berkeley.edu/CDE/report/go-five-final-report.html#S5.
but I'd be interested to learn more, perhaps esp. re: "Ease of Development
(how difficult to use the framework)" (see above discussion point). Also,
the open source vs. commercial discussion. Finally, any consideration of the
use of Relax NG as compared to W3C Schema XSD?

I've had some exposure to working with Cocoon and Cocoon/Lenya (more limited
re: Struts), and so read with interest the table in this report assessing it
against OXF, Struts(CX), and the models (MVC etc.).

Also, Cocoon's 2.1 is now available (not so in time for your project) - wonder
how that might make a difference (or not)?
http://cocoon.apache.org/news/
"The release of the long-awaited 2.1 version of Cocoon on August 13th marks
the transition from a publishing-oriented XML/XSLT server engine towards a
componentized XML-based web application development framework."

Additionally, I am at the moment intrigued by WebML (http://www.webratio.com),
as described in the book "Designing Data-Intensive Websites" (just purchased
it)
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1558608435/
"UML of the Web" - http://www.webratio.com/page2.do?link=page2.link

-------------------------
* Relationship (?) of Document Engineering to Content Management *
As noted above, my background is less on the side of "document" as business
process information exchange, and perhaps more traditionally in the use of
markup language for "documents" that are, as Elliotte Rusty Harold
http://www.ibiblio.org/xml/books/effectivexml/
puts it, "narrative" (e.g. DocBook; XHTML; content management & single-source
publishing, etc.)

And yet I presume that even in the area of "documents" as in an OXF framework,
etc., there still are needs for similar information-organizing principles as
found in "narrative" documents, especially the more granular the design in
composing narrative pages.

Interested to discuss some of those principles, information architecture
techniques, and see what is the relationship between the (comparatively
firmly established (!)) CM and the "evolving" DE. :^)

----------------------
* Any Opportunity for Alumni Distance Learning/Contribution?? *
(however informal)
Just a shot: the SIMS course offerings are always very appealing, but there's
never any continuing education that I'm aware of...
Is this Document Engineering by any chance a place such a precedent might be
carved out?...

---------------------
* Other?... *

==============
SELECTED LINKS:
==============
Orbeon OXF press release (May 19, 2003)
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=053828

Why OXF?
http://www.orbeon.com/oxf/doc/intro-oxf

Spring 2003 - Platform Technology Evaluation : Cocoon
http://dream.sims.berkeley.edu/CDE/report/go-five-final-report.html#S5.4

Fall 2002 Document Engineering "E-Berkeley"
http://dream.sims.berkeley.edu/doc-eng/projects/COURSE/documentation/babl-course-documentation.html

Preliminary Design
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/%7Eglushko/ebitf_030307/PrelimDesign.htm

Minutes: e-Berkeley Implementation Task Force, March 7, 2003
http://ebitf.vcbf.berkeley.edu/minutes_mar07_2003.html

First Sketch (yellow legal pad shot!)
http://dream.sims.berkeley.edu/CDE/cas/design0/DraftPrelDesign.html

==========
PEOPLE:
==========
Master's 2003 (probably/perhaps no longer in Berkeley area?)
(Document Engineering)
Patrick Garvey
pgarvey@sims.berkeley.edu

Marc Gratacos
gratacos@sims.berkeley.edu

John Jairo Leon
jleon@sims.berkeley.edu

Calvin Smith
calvins@sims.berkeley.edu

==========
Master's 2004 (presumably in Berkeley in early Sept.!)
(some of those I found listing "Document Engineering" on coursework pages)

http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~allisonb/coursework.html#Spring2003
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~bdaly/spring2003.htm
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~french/index.html
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~ljordan/assignments.htm
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~leejane/coursework.htm
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~zhanna/coursework.html
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~atan/courses/courses.html
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~amyt/coursework.html
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~awilhelm/coursework.html#spring03
...
Others?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WILLIAM REILLY PROFILE (@ UCB SIMS Alumni)
===============================================
===============================================
William Reilly profile
https://alumni.sims.berkeley.edu/search/fulldisplay.php?id=257
===============================================
Home Location
Somerville, MA
617 290 9689 cell phone
william@reilly2001.info

Personal Bio
In "Job Search" at the moment (Aug. 2003)!

I will be attending the San Francisco Seybold Conference (Sept. 8-11, 2003),
in particular the Gilbane Content Management sub-conference.

* Looking for work in arena of XML, DTD, XSD, XSLT, CSS, Apache Jakarta
Cocoon, Java/J2EE, etc.

o Note: The SIMS project using Oberon XML Framework (OXF) looks
_quite_ interesting:
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=053828.
I hope to be in contact with Prof. Glushko and possibly some of the students
involved...

* Till recently was V.P./Assoc. Dir., Technology, at Digitas, a marketing
& technology consulting firm in Boston. Example Digitas technology work, for
Fleet Bank: http://www.digitas.com/results/fleetboston_cs.asp

* Authored DocBook documentation on "XML-2-HTML" website build &
maintenance system, also known as "Trees Into Rectangles," as used at Digitas
on Fleet and Millennium Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA) websites.
http://reilly2001.info/xml-2-html/ch01s02.html#table_raw-tree

* Recently joined CMS Review as a Contributing Writer.
http://www.cmsreview.com/Editors/
==================================================
==================================================

New Notebook PC (dual-boot!)

At PCsForEveryone I today bought a new notebook PC: the never-before-heard-of maker "Spartan" (sounds a bit ominous). Features the new Centrino chip stuff that makes it all run longer (I'm sure I paid more, to run longer...).
Here's the spec sheet (.PDF).
=========================
Spartan SAC1402 Notebook (Centrino)
14.1”XGA Screen
24x CD ROM
56K V.90 / 10/100 LAN
Wireless LAN Intel 2100
40GB Hard-drive
512 MB RAM
Lithium Battery
Windows XP Professional
(dual-boot with Linux Red Hat 9)
AC Adapter & Carrying case
=========================

Can't wait to have fun sinking time into getting this guy up and running... ;^)
Wm.

Meaning of Life Volleyball Party

WiFi pool party fun - just checking in on the 'blog.
See also http://www.wookus.net/party2003/ for "more" on the Meaning of Life. ;^)
Wm.

Web Services Conference, Boston

A few quick notes on this conference I attended today and yesterday:
XML-Web Services One Conference + Expo, Boston

Zero to sixty in two quick days on web services lingo and all the rest of it.
[ Actually, I shouldn't say "zero." I'd done WSDL and had an intro to Web Services in May 2002 in my Harvard Extension School course: "e-Business Applications with XML." ]
Highly useful sessions for me to attend. Expo floor not quite as useful, but still worthwhile. And, free lunch, if you can believe in such a thing.

Thursday:

IBM Web Services Technical Briefing Day Agenda

• Web Services Connections - Doug Tidwell (O'Reilly author)


• Web Services Development Productivity - WebSphere Studio App Developer

Keynote: "Web Services Today: A Perspective" - David Chappell, Principal, Chappell & Associates

I have his (unread, so far) "Understanding .NET" book.

Building and Consuming Java Web Services with Apache Axis: A Tutorial in Three Acts - Glenn Daniels, Macromedia, Apache Axis, JAX-RPC

Friday:
XSLT Gets a Facelift: A Look at XSLT 2.0 in the Enterprise - Jeff Fenton, Datapower

Web Services and Existing Databases - Doug Barry (book author)

Here's a bit of linking HTML provided by the author himself (!):

• Web Services and Service-Oriented Architectures: This site will help you get started with Web services and service-oriented architectures. It features free articles, product listings, and services that can be used to develop a service-oriented architecture.

One Path...

Here's one path I was just led down:

1. In my "IN" box, received a weekly newsletter e-mail
XMLReport@101communications-news.com

2. It contains a sponsors link (which I usually ignore) to:
Technical Briefings from IBM and Microsoft in Boston
http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=2377

3. This is a re-direct to a conference I was unaware of, right in my own Boston backyard, and going on Right Now (!) (Aug. 12-15)
http://www.xmlconference.com/boston/

4. One session I found of interest is
XSLT Gets a Facelift: A Look at XSLT 2.0 in the Enterprise
http://www.xmlconference.com/boston/sessions2.asp?section_id=879

5. Which is taught by Jeff Kenton, who works for DataPower
http://www.datapower.com/newsroom/press_kit/faq.html

6. Which I learn is also in my backyard (Alewife, Cambridge)
http://www.datapower.com/about/contact_us.html
==================

Special note: I needed to telephone in (no further online registration) to see if I could attend this single XSLT 2.0 session. Didn't know if there was a price for it; didn't look like it from the brochure/PDF etc. Nice person on the telephone helped me out a bit, and it sounds like I can attend this session just on my free "Pavilion Pass." That's a nice break! (if it really works out that way! it doesn't appear to be among the freebies:
http://www.xmlconference.com/boston/free.asp
http://www.xmlconference.com/boston/special.asp
but, we'll see)

Here's also the I.B.M. day-long session (free):
IBM Web Services Technical Briefing Day Agenda
http://www.xmlconference.com/boston/classroom1.asp

I hope to get to both; we'll see!

Here with Dad!

Quick blog entry, sitting here with Dad!
(the obligatory "...see how easy it is...")

MT Error (!): (FIXED) (how awful... no "Comments"!)

NOW FIXED (See "Comments")
===============================
Oh me oh my.

Movable Type Error Message: "No entry_id" when I go to "Comment" on an entry! Hmmmm.

The "Comment" link brings up the window to write in O.K.,
and the URL _does_ have an "entry_id=4 value:
http://reilly2001.info/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=4
but then clicking either Preview or Post yields this error:
==========
An error occurred:

No entry_id

Now why would that be, I wonder???

MT online help doesn't really help:
docs/mtmanual_comments.html#comment%20previewing
docs/mtmanual_comments.html#comment%20submission%20errors
in that
1) I'm seeing a different problem than described in the manual ("no entry_id")
2) I'm using completely vanilla out-of-the-box templates, forms, etc. That is, the recommended form etc. I believe is what I have in place, and so forth. Hmmm.
That is, these "Comment Preview" and "Comment Error" are advanced, optional things--I'm not even there yet (!):
http://www.movabletype.org/default_templates.shtml#comment_preview_template
http://www.movabletype.org/default_templates.shtml#comment_error_template

And yes, this problem exists for both Weblogs I'm running (on the same server, same MT). So it would seem more global than a particular template issue (?). Though again, I haven't edited anything in these templates. Hmm.

I've looked into the script mt-comments.cgi, and don't know my Perl well enough (bummer!) to know just what went amiss to get me into the error bit here:
if ($@) {
print "Content-Type: text/html\n\n";
print "An error occurred: $@";
}

And as for the form itself, I'm puzzled.
Is it in this '/tmpl/cms' directory somewhere?
(doesn't seem to be this one (?)):
= /usr/local/www/reilly2001/www/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/tmpl/cms/edit_comment.tmpl
Is it this search related one (doesn't seem to be ?) :
= /usr/local/www/reilly2001/www/movabletype/MT-2.64-full-lib/search_templates/comments.tmpl
Other ?
Hmmm Hmmm Double-hmmm.

And yes, my configuration is set to permit Comments, of course!

Any ideas, anyone? Many thanks...
william@reilly2001.info

Met Up

Met four other Boston bloggers yesterday evening, courtesy of movabletype.meetup.com and Sidney's Grill (@ MIT Hotel).

• Beth: mutatedmonkeys.com


• Mike: curiousfrog.com


• Paul: crypticreign.techieswithcats.com


• Leo: themadrussian.net

Nice to have met you all! Ought to do it again sometime...

Some Initial Remarks on JobSearch blogging

I'm unsure what to do. Hence the plunge.

I was laid off (July 23), and so am "in JobSearch." (I've decided though I don't like the term (too Newspeak-y), I'm (so far) adopting it (and this camel-cased orthography: 'JobSearch') for ease of sure communication with all I encounter.)

What I'm unsure about, vis-a-vis blogging (another term I"m a bit dicey with), is how public to make the logging of my goings-on while in JobSearch. Hmmm.

And so in addition to this blog "Whim," I have another, password-protected blog, "Mine," cleverly (and literarily) sub-titled "Me, My, Mine, or, Quarry for Middlemarch."

I'll begin with a policy along the lines of "innocent till proven guilty," (that is, put it in the public "Whim" till I realize it ought to be over in the protected Mine), and then use hyperlinks across the two blogs as seems fit (despite that visitors can't follow them down the Mine (Alice in Wonderland-like!).

We shall see how it goes--
Wm.
(pronounced, "Whim")

2 Fidelity jobs: Info Architect and Interactive Designer (SIMS Jobs)

SIMS Alumni Network: Forums - Jobs
Lots of useful job description language here. Two six-month positions in Marlborough, for "Fidelity Active Trader Pro."
Posted by Nancy Van House.
(Behind user login, I believe)
Cheers.

On the fly posting to MT (from Favorites bar)

Google Advanced Search

Gives me the hyperlink to What I Wuz Lookin' At.

Nice!
Wm.

Foist Off

First off, I foist off this whimsical weblog on you. There'll be time later for something more substantive.